A man sits on the side of a road after being detained by Turkish soldiers with other Syrians trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos from Dikili, western Turkey, on March 5, 2016 | Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images

Don’t want migrants? Pay for them instead

Planned relocation scheme would have financial penalties for those who don’t join in.

The European Commission will on Wednesday propose a mandatory relocation system for asylum seekers, and will make it expensive for those EU countries that refuse to take part, according to an internal Commission document seen by POLITICO.

It’s part of a planned shake-up of the bloc’s asylum rules that aims to ease the pressure on the EU countries at the bloc’s external borders. If the proposal becomes law, the EU country in which migrants first set foot would in principle have to process their asylum claims, but that country would no longer be obliged to host all of the migrants it receives.

The Commission document highlights the shortcomings of the current system, including that “asylum seekers often refuse to make asylum applications [in the] member state of first arrival, and they then move on, in an illegal way.”

The EU plans to stop that happening by giving each country a threshold of asylum seekers. If the actual number of arrivals reaches 150 percent of the country’s set figure, “an automatic corrective allocation mechanism…is triggered” and all further new applicants would be relocated, the document says, until the number of asylum seekers is back below the threshold.

The problem for the Commission is that some EU countries refuse to take part in any relocation scheme. Hungary has announced a referendum on the issue and Slovakia is going to court over a similar, one-off relocation scheme agreed upon last September.

The Commission’s answer: You don’t want to take in refugees? Pay for them instead.

Governments will be allowed to opt out of the scheme, if they’re willing to pay the country that takes care of its migrants.

“Member states would be able to choose a different kind of solidarity by contributing financially to the efforts made by other member states, those confronted with the disproportionate situation or those relocating asylum seekers,” the document says.

The financial penalty is expected to be high, however. The EU source said the fine “should go beyond symbolism and be understood as prohibitive pricing.”

Greece and Italy would profit most from the relocation plan, although an EU official warned that the likes of Poland, Latvia or Finland should be worried about the impact of waves of migration in the future.

Countries without external borders would have to acknowledge the reality that asylum seekers don’t care about the Dublin rules that dictate which member country has to deal with asylum claims.

The Commission will on Wednesday also propose stricter rules for asylum seekers themselves. So-called asylum shopping would no longer be allowed. To stop it, the Commission will oblige migrants to stay in the country processing their asylum claim, with sanctions for those who don’t comply.

It will also recommend visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in the EU, part of its deal with Ankara on stopping the flow of migrants into Europe. The Commission will make a “qualified” recommendation for visa liberalization, officials said.

That means the Commission’s endorsement is contingent on Ankara’s fulfillment of the entire catalog of 72 “benchmarks” required of applicant countries. Turkey has met most, though not all, of the criteria, a list that includes everything from introducing biometric passports to ensuring rights of minorities.

The final decision on whether to grant Turks visa-free travel, expected at the end of June, rests with member-country leaders.

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Alexander Malinowskier

I have better idea. 250 000 Euro punishment for every country that let illegal immigrant in.

Posted on 5/3/16 | 11:21 PM CET

Prabuddha

Instead of fining countries which dont want refugees, countries who have created the refugees by overthrowing stable govts should pay for them. UK and France should be asked to pay for all the refugees

Posted on 5/3/16 | 11:29 PM CET

VT

The Euro-Commissars on the move, again!

I recommend a variation on this novel concept. If (and when) each forcibly relocated migrant picks up and heads for his country of choice (say, Germany), the country of choice then pays the country of forcible relocation 3x the intended fine for each migrant!

This should provide enough skin in the game for all involved and a fair incentive for the so-called ‘likes’ of Poland, Latvia and Finland, and so forth.

Let the “Migrant Games” began!

Posted on 5/3/16 | 11:49 PM CET

Tom Cullem

Well, that should dilute the “pull factor”, hmmm?

And what a nice early Christmas gift for the BREXIT campaign. As the UK staggers under rising inequality, a housing shortage, and a primary school place shortage, benefits cuts, etc., the EU kindly offers it a choice between more crowding through more migrants, or a bigger EU payment . . . because the EU naturally assumed that the burden of migration from the Middle East and North Africa naturally belongs only and fully to . . . Europe and European taxpayers.

I wonder if the EU actually wants the UK to leave and is doing everything it can to ensure rising rage amongst the electorate?

Let us see how Iron Clad Dave spins this as another wonderful victory for the REMAIN campaign bringing nothing but benefits to Britons.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 2:42 AM CET

ssss

I am not sure if they will find enough countries that will support it, but… if they will find, then EU will fall. And next year there will be exit referendums one after another.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 9:30 AM CET

Opinion

What is the intended result of this decision? The reluctant countries such as Hungary, Poland, Latvija etc. are poor countries. They have no money to house additional unknown people let alone enough money to feed their own people. Have these ‘decision-makers’ ever travelled in their life and seen many different countries? Or do they only live in München-Bogenhausen and know this world only from nice travel brochures and trips to Monaco/Ibiza as well as hearsay from their servants?

Posted on 5/4/16 | 9:34 AM CET

Strindberg

Alexander Malinowskier: This is a REALLY GOOD idea! 250,000 euro fine for every illegal migrant they let in. However the EU is not a union where the rules are to be respected and played after (e.g. Dublin II-III, Schengen, Maastricht-criteria etc).

Something is happening now in Brussels! As if the leaders of the EU really want it to collapse. Harakiri in European way?

Posted on 5/4/16 | 9:58 AM CET

Jeremy Cooke

Fine Turkey 250 000 Euro as punishment for every illegal immigrant that crosses into the EU from Turkish territory.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 10:28 AM CET

Gareth

Does anyone know if this is applicable to all EU countries, or just Schengen? If it applies to the UK it will be most interesting to see how it is received during the current referendum debate…

Posted on 5/4/16 | 11:16 AM CET

JoeBlog

Oh, yeah. These hard-working scientists and engineers contribute so much to society, that each costs €250K. Allrighty then. Stop fingerprinting them at the external borders and the liberal destination countries can shove their Dublin III where the sun don’t shine.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 11:28 AM CET

Mn

Merkel betrayed us all.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 11:47 AM CET

JoeThePimpernel

The European Union totalitarian experiment is officially a fail now.

Time to dissolve it and give people their freedom back.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 3:05 PM CET

John Medina

Why don’t they just offer every migrant 250,000 euros to go home. That would be an easier solution.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 4:03 PM CET

Magnus Sandvik

Sounds like the Commission has traveled a few hours north and smoked some wonderful stuff because this is the absolute worst suggestion they could have come up with in a time that, at least in their eyes, requires a more united Europe. This proposal, if passed, will do more than anything else to energize the anti-EU factions in all European countries, it will put enormous political pressure on already embattled leaders trying desperately to hold together the EU with gluesticks and duct tape, and may very well be the last decision the Commission every makes.

Posted on 5/4/16 | 4:08 PM CET

Aurum

SO, WITH THESE STUPID “CHARGES” THE EU IS GUARANTEEING THAT BRITAIN WILL VOTE TO LEAVE
BRAVO!!!

Posted on 5/5/16 | 2:15 AM CET

yodiggity

Sounds like extortion to me.

Posted on 5/5/16 | 5:14 AM CET

emma

This EU Commission is getting insane! Pardon, it has been already for years. This is why Europe is getting out of touch with Reality and democracy. You cannot move people from one country to another on mandatory terms. You cannot force planned ressetlement of people around the world. Who are you?! Devils? Incredible.

Posted on 5/5/16 | 11:21 AM CET

Haloperidol

People in the Commission are crazy. An average citizen living in Eastern Europe has to work for 35-40 years until